much as I light of chaps

15:42 Mar 11 

I derived my idea more from the second quote from Redskins - apparently, it's not a sales pitch there but the seller is referring to the people he'll have to deal with, and using the expression to emphasize that they'll be cheapskating as far as they can. He even mentions that he is using "their own expression' to describe them.

In the given question this may not be so clear but then again, Harvey is playing nice but "oh, I'm short of cash" and after having been hit with a straight "How much?" he tries to get as much as he can, pretending that he is doing a favor while being poor. He is a peddler, after all.

I could be all wrong:-), a lot of guessing, I know.

15:01 Mar 11 

“Why, much as I light of chaps,”
would be
"Well, (my price would be) whatever I can get"
IOW My price for this article is flexible, depends on what the client can pay.
That seems to me the most probable intended meaning.
This a reply from the peddler - so part of the trade jargon from that time.
What is the connection with horse riding chaps or chaps (people) was obvious to traders two centuries ago - today we can only guess what makes most sense from the context.

Saying to a buyer "I sell to dirt-poors / empty purses" - even if true - strikes me as a very unlikely sales spiel.
Using пустой кошелек sounds то me a bit too strong when trying to say "I can give you a good deal", but then the translator had all the text as "context" to decide.

08:23 Mar 11 

Пустой кошелек is a widely accepted Russian idiom equal to dirt-poor, poor as a church mouse, flat broke etc.

08:16 Mar 11 

In the Russian version of Redskins (as quoted in English by Philgoddard), the translator chose to interpret "light on chaps" as "empty purses" resulting in
"the most favorable for their empty purses." Thinking of "light on cash" expression, which may not be used as often today in favor of "low on cash", at least in US English, I'm still inclined to agree with this interpretation. It fits the context too.

23:14 Mar 10 

A very difficult question, and in particular due to the old-fashioned English and faulty pronunciation/spelling of some words, something obviously intended by the writer, James F.Cooper. Example: “Berry pretty calico” should be in correct English, of course, “very pretty calico”, “berry genteel” should be “very genteel”, and so on.
It becomes obvious that the character Caesar, a black man, a slave, did not receive any formal education. The story takes place, I found out, during the rebellion and political revolution of the Thirteen Colonies, i.e. prior to the abolition of slavery (sanctioned in 1865 by means of the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the national Constitution).
As for the question itself, I might be wrong, but we should consider another possible error here, in this case committed by Harvey Birch, the peddler in the dialogue (and the main character in the novel, a spy). My reading is that he wanted to say something like “much as I like of chaps”, with the meaning “well, it depends on the customer(s)”.